"These companies will wait for a long while until the US government and the international community reach a decision in relation to the legitimacy of the Taliban rule." On numerous occasions, social media companies have come under fire for helping to incite violence and hatred across the world. "I believe that social media companies won't rush in making such an important decision," she said. However, Ms Elswah doesn't think any big decisions will happen any time soon. Twitter also faces another contentious issue - whether or not to give the Taliban control of already verified government accounts.
“I assume if they do become the government and Twitter does not take any stance against them, I could see them becoming verified,” Mr Ayad said.
#GAY TWITTER HUB VERIFICATION#
Verification would confirm to Afghans that information like this has come from an official source. These explosions were carried out by American forces to destroy their equipment, so that the citizens shouldn't worry." Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted: "Explosions were heard inside Kabul airport after dinner today. If the request comes their way, Twitter must consider whether blue tick Taliban accounts would have the potential to incite violence.īeing gay in Afghanistan: 'The Taliban raped him and beat him'Īfter US forces denotated their equipment at Kabul airport last Thursday, the Taliban's Zabihullah Mujahid used Twitter to reassure a city rocked moments before by a terror attack. Mona Elswah, who researches the Arab region at Oxford University's Internet Institute said: "Verifying their accounts might signal a global acceptance of their control over Afghanistan and that whatever they tweet/say is legitimate." Should the Taliban remain off the State Department's list, the group may request a blue tick from Twitter. The US Treasury, on the other hand, has imposed sanctions on the Taliban. It's unlikely Twitter would attempt to justify hosting a group deemed to be terrorists by the state, and the Taliban is not on the US State Department's list of foreign terrorist organisations (this allowed America to enter into its recent negotiations with the group). The two largest prints are that of official spokespeople Zabihullah Mujahid (375.4k followers) and Suhail Shaheen (449k followers). "You have the footprints of the Taliban all over Twitter,” he said. Their highly produced content has occasionally evaded bans on YouTube and Facebook, while as Mr Ayad explains, Twitter has not explicitly banned the group. “The Taliban has an elaborate media ecosystem online”, said Moustafa Ayad, who tracks online extremist activity at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. As this percentage increased, so did the Taliban's online presence. Internet use in the country was virtually nonexistent, with just 0.01% of the population online, according to the World Bank. When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan - 20 years ago - social media as we now know it did not exist. The Taliban's relationship with social media With high levels of engagement on the platform and the US not strictly classing them as a terrorist organisation, could the Taliban 2.0 become verified in the near future? Their follower counts show no sign of slowing, but for a group that desperately seeks legitimacy in and outside of Afghanistan, a coveted blue tick from Twitter may be a boon. Meanwhile, on Twitter, official Taliban representatives post regular updates to over 800,000 people. By Multimedia Producer Wedaeli ChibelushiĪs governments across the world have had to grapple with the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan, so too have social media companies.įacebook and YouTube moved fast - following Kabul's fall, both said they consider the Taliban a terrorist organisation and will continue prohibiting its accounts.